Born: In England, came to America at age four, raised near Atlanta, GA.

Inducted: 2005 by Matt Lucas in Van Nuys, CA.

Category: Blues

Biography: John started his career in the entertainment business as a guitarist working the ” Big Ape ” Gator Bowl Concert at eighteen with Brenda Lee, Jimmy Clanton, Charlie Rich, Jerry Lee Lewis and Roy Orbison. From there he got a job as a record producer working for Joe Galkin in Atlanta. He left Galkin to work for Atlantic, Columbia, Ace and Roulette records producing various artist for each label. He was producing some of those record companies biggest acts when he met Atlantic’s Jerry Wexler and Morris Levy of Roulette records, who got him in touch with NRC studio’s where he begin to produce Joe South, The Tams, Tommy Roe, Ray Stevens and Jerry Reed.

In 1962 John went to work for Georgia Record Distributors in Atlanta which was owned by Mercury records, shortly after he began handling record promotion for the entire state of Georgia. In 1963 he was placed in charge of the entire southeast region which covered eight states for the Mercury record company. John did so well in his job that he was selected and received the most coveted Bill Gavin Award for best promotion man. John moved on to Merit Music Distributors in Detroit working with A&M records who had a big hit with ( The Lonely Bull ) from there to Hickory records, and on to Monument, Red Bird and Soul/VIP where he worked with The Marvelettes.

John’s star was riding high and it got another rocket boost when he was hired by Golden World Records as producer and engineer and begin to produce and record, Edwin Starr, The Holidays, Gino Washington, The Reflections and The Shades of Blue. From that venue John was hired by Harry Balk producer of Del Shannon ( Runaway ) fame, Johnny and The Hurricanes, Don and Juan and Little Willie John. In 1966 John and Harry Balk formed ( Impact records ). They released ( Oh Happy Day ) by the Shades of Blue which went to # 1 in May of 1966 on most of the eastern seaboard and ended up # 7 on Cashbox and Billboard.

John produced many songs that didn’t chart in the USA but did quite well in England. Time Will Pass You By, written by John, Nick Zesses and Dino Fekaris charted # 14 on the ” Northern Soul ” play list in England. Hollywood came calling in 1968 and found John arriving on the west coast at the famed Capital Records building at Hollywood and Vine. John was signed as an independent record producer. He begin to produce, The SRG, The Corporation, The Pack, which went on to become Grand Funk Railroad. He also produced several cuts of ( Thirty Years of Funk ) released by Capital records.

John got together with Jack Lees who owned Hollywood Central Recording Studio. John begin to produce Warren Zevon and Fraken and Davis. He met Amanda McBroom and signed her to his own Hollywood All Star Music company. McBroom wrote the song ( The Rose ) for Bette Midler who had a big with it. The song was used by 20th Century Fox in the movie of the same name. John was the engineer on Brenda Russell’s hit ” So Good, So Right ” for A&M.

John worked in Japan producing Chiharu and produced an album for Matsuyama selling many, many records. John also produced commercials for Dentsu the largest commercial company in Japan. John started Hollywood Central 2 in 1982 and produced Lowell Fulson, The Gap, Ry Cooder, Evans, King, Southern Comfort, and Harry Nilsson. John retired for awhile, however as in all those who love entertainment, they can’t stay away. John went to work for Cash Box in 1994, becoming an editor for it’s blues publication. John Rhys has done it all, producer, songwriter,promoter, working with the biggest names in the music industry. John career covers a half century, and is still going strong.

Today John lives in Van Nuys, CA, he is the owner and founder of Bluepower.com a blues web site he created in 1994 that gets thousands and thousands of hits daily. John Rhys, a true Southern legend. John is also a lifetime member of The Southern Legends Association.